Chapter 303

Su Li’s eyes were vacant and hollow. She leaned against the edge of the bed, her arms tightly wrapped around a photograph of her mother, sitting motionless until dawn. Having not slept all night, her hair was scattered messily over her shoulders, and her face was as pale as paper. The morning light from outside the window filtered through the gap in the curtains, casting long, narrow shadows across the floor, but Su Li remained entirely oblivious. After a long while, she seemed to snap out of her trance. She mechanically reached out to pick up the phone lying to the side. The screen lit up, the harsh glare making her squint slightly. A red notification dot appeared on the WeChat icon. Tapping into it, she saw not only messages from Shen Ye but also two missed calls from him the previous night. Su Li’s fingers slid across the screen to open their chat history. A photo of the two of them embracing appeared before her. In the picture, their faces were beaming with happiness. Her finger moved involuntarily, gently caressing Shen Ye’s face in the photo. A complex array of emotions flashed through her eyes—longing, reluctance, but above all, a profound sense of bewilderment.